Monday, April 16, 2012

Waiting

I don't think people realize that it's hard to become a police officer. It's not like you can just wake up and decide, today I want to be a cop so you go into the police station, fill out an application and start academy. Nope, it's a LONG process. First, you have the application. That along takes a ridiculously long time to fill out. What makes it even more fun is if you are an American living in Canada who went to high school in the states. If you did, you then need a certificate stating that your high school degree is equal to a Canadian high school degree. Which seems really pointless when you not only have a high school degree and a bachelors degree, but you also have a half a Masters. But hey, rules are rules. So that is $200 and 14 weeks of waiting. Then you FINALLY get to fill out the application form, which again takes a freaking long time to fill out. Then they call you and you have to do a physical and an exam. Thankfully due to that 14 weeks of waiting for a certificate, you have been to the gym constantly so you pass the physically and again due to the fact that you have half a Masters degree when the requirements are a high school diploma, you pass the exam. Then you have the personal disclosure interview. They meet with you and ask about EVERY little thing you've done in your life. You leave feeling like you are a horrible person even though the worse thing you've done is forgot to pay for that box of diapers once. Then you have a behaviour interview, which is surprisingly not as scary. So thats good, a small break. The next thing is the polygraph, you're not nervous going in but holy crap, once they prep you and hook you up, you are nervous! Then they start asking you all these questions about little "blips" and you think you must have failed but apparently not, because they send you for the psych eval and medical exam. Even those you feel like you are failing, you're foot is a little flat, hmm you're blood pressure is a little low, wow your hearing in your right ear is just barely at the pass limit....

After all that, you wait.

That is where we are now. We are waiting. We have heard that my husband has officially "passed" all the steps of the application process and his file will be going to the hiring board but thats where we are at. Waiting.

And really, after all this, he may not get in. We have to remind ourselves of that fact, even making it to the end doesn't mean you will get hired. It is a very competitive field. You don't just decide to become a cop and then you are one, you have to apply and hope you get in and then you get to go through training and you have to pass training before you are in. I think the media really makes it seem like you can just into training and then if you make it through, you are a cop but really, that might be how it is in some places, but here, there is a LOT of steps before you go into training. But personally, those steps don't bother me. Even the annoying need for the certificate proving he had a high school diploma wasn't that bad, it gave us time to pray and really decide if this is what your family wants to do. It's the waiting that I'm struggling with. I hate waiting.

My hubby is at the point where I think he's stopped caring, he hasn't felt positive about any of this process so he just wants to know one way or the other. But all our other friends who are members of the police in our city have said that the process is basically just meant to break out and if you make it through, thats a great sign. Apparently they all felt like crap leaving each step as well and they made it in so I'm trying to be positive.